touched down in paris

after 14 gruelling hours of flight time, we've finally arrived in paris, the city of lights!

flying over france

the long journey wasn't exactly too pleasing. for a start, the flight got delayed by over an hour which only meant we lost precious time here in paris. having the captain announced that the plane had an engine failure and required a mechanic to fix the problem just before we took off didn't help us relax any better too. worst of all, no in-flight entertainment!!! what can be worst?! but thank god for at least a smooth journey. heh heh.

the weather was perfect when we touched down at 0800 hrs local time, with the temperature at approx 22˚c. moreover we were welcomed with a pretty rainbow, that only reminded us of god's promise of his pressence and protection over us. we were definitely off to a good start!

rainbow!

we spent the entire day pretty much free and easy. a few minutes trying to understand the local transport system, and getting around the city became simply a breeze. no time was wasted in attempting to absorb as much as the city could offer. the notre dame cathedral, arc de triomphe, lourve museum, champs elysees, patheon, and of course the eiffel tower just were some of the places we covered. the history discovered behind each and every of those places were indeed so rich, alluring and beautiful. cant help it, im a history buff. haha. but i shall skip it here.

champs elysees - most famous shopping district in paris

lourve museum - houses the mona lisa

arc de triomphe

les invalids

notre-dame cathedral

inside the cathedral

chanel making an offering

pathenon

walking the streets

eiffel tower, hmm... honestly, nothing spectacular about it. haha. i thought it just appeared like a piece of scrap metal protruding outta nowwhere (it is in fact isn't it?). but since we are in paris, i guessed it wouldn't hurt spending some time at it, also because chanel insisted. lol. best thing so far - the sun actually only began to set at 2215 hrs! yeah, that's happens only in summer; which added more daylight time for our sightseeing and 'exploration'.

climbing up the eiffel tower! :D

view of paris from the top

stupid tee i bought but couldn't fit into :(

the tower sparkles every hr from 9pm. yeah, thats 9pm alright!

view of the tower from directly beneath

so, after a long and extremely well spent day, we're back in the hotel. unfortunately quite distant from the city. legs are beginning to ache and lips to crack. sheesh. we've still got much of the world ahead of us, so deciding to turn in now would probably be a good idea. tomorrow, disneyland!

eurotrip part II

hooray, the much awaited trip has come.

armed with my trusty dslr, crocs, lonely planet guides, and oakley shades... europe here we come baby!

be back in three weeks' time. till then, ciao! :D

to lead & to serve... yet again

because whatever that doesn't kills us only makes us stronger.

thanks for all the unforgettable memories! (:

ivan & pris

just a handful of pics from ivan and priscilla's pre-wedding outdoor shoot completed in kl where i spent my past couple of days.

congratulations you two! and thanks for the wonderful opportunity! (:

happy fathers' day

post surgery

we're likely to have heard the phrase, 'life is fragile' well over a thousand times. for me, that hasn't really hit hard until now. one moment of fun in camp and the next, i found myself lying in hospital. thanks to a random case of acute appendicitis that started the whole ordeal beginning saturday evening, the following three days passed as living nightmares. needless to say, nuh wasn't very helpful with its three hours wait time while half my life had already been sucked out of me at the a&e. a handful of tests were enough to confirm the diagnosis, and not long after was i under the knife, now leaving me three sad scars.. :(

on the brighter side, i must admit i haven't felt so loved in a long while as it had been during those four days. ha ha ha! as much as i did try not to publicize my situation, you guys eventually found out and were only more eager to know if im getting better each day. all that you've done meant so much to me that i cannot thank each one of you enough for!

chanel, yuan hao, austin, poh huat, nicholas, eugene, wei ben, celeste, junjie, guo ying, cin lee, hui yi, ambrose, alvin, melissa, ms tai, ms sham, and ms wong, thank you ever so much for visiting and for all your essence of chicken/fish, cakes, apple juice, get-well-soon board :)), flowers, fruits and hampers! and of course for family and everyone including the rciy gang who have been messaging and praying for me non stop, thank you so so so much.

believe me when i say i will never forget what you all have done for me. god bless you all! :D

last supper

they say army is a time when boys become men. how true that is, only time will tell. enjoy the free slimming and tanning resort at tekong bud. you'll be missed, haha. do take care and see you and the new hairdo in two weeks time! (:

ops cohesion night

first attempt playing 'bar tender' at last evening's ops cohesion night. brought back fond memories of my 'masak masak' toy kitchen set i had during the kindergarten days. rocks. :)

not me, i meant the event. haha. thanks for the pics ambrose sir!

photos courtesy of ambrose

two thumbs up

undoubtedly two of the 'awesomest' movies i've caught for a long long while.

i've never read more than a chapter of the dan brown novel, so its no surprise the film came as amusing to me. suspense, plot, location shoots, 'religion-based'... definitely my kind of flick. maybe because i'm catholic hence the emotions of being able to relate there a little. but c'mon, its nothing more different than national treasure. only an idiot gotta believe they're non-fictional. perhaps it was offensive at some scenes, but i guess credit still gotta go to ron howard for being able to recreate the locations so well where orginals were off bounds to him.

as for star trek, was never a trekkie till now! haha, am definitely gonna get the entire series of it beginning 1966...when i can afford. any kind soul can lend maybe? (:

a piece of mind

as i gather my thoughts and prepare my content to share on sunday's sesion topic being 'morality', one question has been occupying my entire mind. 'what exactly makes human life valuable?' hhmm...

is it determined by the quality of life we live? or how smart we are? or how popular we are? or how much we can contribute to society? or perhaps... is it because we as human beings have inherent value invested in us by our creator, god who has loved us with an everlasting love that can never be diminished...?

take law and religion out of the picture, and tell me why it would be morally wrong for me to kill you. what would your response be?

flyer & night safari

somehow i managed to got hold of this family card whereby all tourist attractions visited with it in singapore are free, if not 90% free (don't ask how, haha). since i had it for only a day, we decided to try out the flyer for the first time and thereafter visit the night safari last evening after work. some places i wouldn't pay for outta my own pocket as i never found them exactly that appealing. but nevertheless, we had our fair share of fun. (:

graduation day

the closing of a chapter, a new beginning of another.

three years in ngee ann brought about the most painful, but also the sweetest days of my life as far as i can remember. as its said, 'whatever that doesn't kills you only makes you stronger'. surely, has it been a home that i will never forget. not to mention, the people i owe for having made it one enjoyable hell of a time.

happy graduation y'all!